Cudweed.
Gnaphalium.
A COMMON wild plant, but singular in is appearance. There are many species of it. But that used in medicine is the kind called the middle cudweed, a herb impious. It has this last name from the whimsical observation of the young flowers rising above the old ones, which is called the son's growing above the father. This cudweed, is a little low plant, it seldom rises to a foot high. The stalks are tough, firm, white, slender, and upright; they are very thick, set with leaves, which are small, oblong, white, and pointed at the ends, and seldom lie very even. The flowers are a kind of brown or yellowish heads, standing at the tops, and in the divisions of the stalks.
The herb bruised, and applied to a fresh wound, stops the bleeding; it may be also dried and given in decoction, in which form it is good against the whites, and will often stop violent purgings.
